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NATIONAL SOUTH POLE MONUMENT

THE NATIONAL MONUMENT TO THE FIRST MEN AT THE SOUTH POLE WILL BE UNVEILED BY HIS MAJESTY THE KING ON 14 DECEMBER

On the fourteenth of December we celebrate the centenary of the Fram and the Terra Nova expeditions to the South Pole in 1911.

For this occasion, the sculptor Håkon Fagerås has designed and created a large monument of the whole norwegian polar party from 1911 consisting of Roald Amundsen, Helmer Hanssen, Oscar Wisting, Olav Bjaaland and Sverre Hassel.

The sculpture will be unveiled at Bygdøynes outside the Fram Museum on 14 December at noon by His Majesty King Harald.

About the artistThe sculptor Håkon Fagerås was born in 1975. He was educated at the National Art Academy in Oslo. Since 1999 he has worked regularly in Pietrasanta in Italy where there is a large marble quarry. Fagerås is one of very few Norwegians who sculptures in marble.

The Amundsen monument, however, is handcast in bronze and consists of five figures nearly two meters high, standing on large granite slabs. The figures are inspired by the photographs the men took at the South Pole, and depict the solemn moment when the men faced the tent and flag with their hats in their hands. The rough impression of the figures relates to the tough conditions the expedition experienced in the Antarctic.

About the Roald Amundsen Memorial FundThe Foundation “Roald Amundsen’s Memorial Fund” was created in 1928, the year Amundsen died. Last year the committee announced a competition for a memorial to Amundsen. The Foundation held the competition in close cooperation with the Norwegian Sculptors’ Association and the Fram Museum.

Here is an extract of what polar hero Olav Bjaaland wrote in his diary at the Pole:

So now we have reached the goal of our longings, and the fantastic thing is that we are the first ones here.

For more information, please contact Anne Rief at +4723282953, anne@frammuseum.no